TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent Since August last year, over 9,000 Buddhist devotees from Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan had signed on a petition vouching for Ming Yi's contributions and character to plead for leniency for him. The petitioners claimed that Ming Yi had made tremendous contributions to society. In the aftermath of the tsunami in 2004, Ming Yi led a humanitarian mission to Sri Lanka to help the homeless and displaced people there. He took another team to Indonesia in 2006 to assist the earthquake victims. One petitioner said: "Whether as a Buddhist monk or a lay person, Ming Yi is a man of impeccable moral character and integrity." Staff of Ren Ci Hospital also spoke up in defense of Ming Yi. They praised Ming Yi for working hard to build up Ren Ci to where it is today. According to them, Ming Yi was an understanding CEO who cared a lot about his staff. He even forked out $5,000 of his own money to help a medical staff who was diagnosed with cancer. The prosecutors have requested Ming Yi to be jailed due to the severity of the crime. As the head of a charity organization, his misuse of its funds will erode public confidence in Singapore charities. Ming Yi is the second charity chief to be jailed after NKF's T.T. Durai who was found guilty for misleading NKF with a falsified invoice of $20,000 which was allegedly for interior design consultancy work done by David Tan, director of the design firm. Durai was sentenced to three months in jail after which he went to Abu Dhabi to work as CEO of Singapore-based Property Facilities Services Pte Ltd. He was reportedly paid $25,000 a month. Both NKF and Ren Ci are the largest charities in Singapore. They used to raise millions of dollars via annual Charity TV shows which have been discontinued. News source: Lianhe Wanbao, 21 November 2009 EDITORS' NOTE: Please sign up as a friend of our Facebook here  Read More →

作者:李卖蚬 老李自认所谓的错误，是他当初以为学生们都能掌握双语？？！！ 哇噻！这样你还能怪他吗？那可是个有理想的错误呀！简直就像是个Honest Mistake了。不是吗？ 但。。是吗？那是造成今天学生讨厌中文，中文水准低落的主要原因吗？ 我认为他的错误是把新加坡的中文母语生态环境严重的破坏了。而且那是只凭他个人的经验与取向，这才是疯狂的。。但是，这错误他会承认吗？ 老李很认真似的说，“我的结论是没有任何一个人能以同样的程度来掌握好两种语文。如果你认为自己可以，那是在自欺欺人。。” 谁在自欺欺人呢？ 政策上几时有企图做到“同样程度”呢？ 所谓的掌握双语，实质上是转变为以英语为主，华文为副；就好比所谓的“讲华语运动”，实质上却是打压方言，简直是把本地华人的DNA也被engineered掉了！ 结果是今天60%以上的华人小学生家庭以英语当母语（70年代时只有少过5%的华人家庭以英语当母语）。而随着对华文教学一再妥协的恶性循环，那百分比只有上升的趋势（新公民不算）。This is truely madness!! ～　～　～   ～　～　～ 听写疯狂吗，老李为何不提一提神经心理学上对书写与记忆和学习之间的关系的研究呢？ 其实，如果方向与态度正确，书写可以是引发学生对华文的兴趣的来源之一。我建议学校不要听信老李对于听写、默写也疯狂的见解，而反其道以创意的方式鼓励学生多写，比如，办一个华文涂鸦墙壁，让学生随兴在上面用华文书写；带低年级小学生到沙滩上用树枝来写字。。等等的活动。 来源：大马论坛 读者有如下的评论： 【雷风雨】评论： 李光耀大概不知道即使是现在，许多小学，尤其是小一至小四低年班，教英文都免不了SPELLING 和 DICTATION。看来不只华文教师疯狂，英文老师也疯狂。李何以单挑华文老师来说事呢？在新加坡，华文就是负有原罪。 李光耀早年发动的“文化革命”致使多少人在精神心理上受到戕害，这些往事至今都没人敢从地毯下扫出来。不道歉也就罢了，岂料他老人家一边承认错误，一边却振振有词，继续弹他那“都怪死记硬背教学法”的老调，都听了几十年了，虽然是大选年的招牌炒饭，好歹下点新鲜的料。  Read More →

By Louis Lim The time has come for to raise serious issues of economic and political freedoms which we take for granted at our peril. Many excellent points have been raised from a Western perspective as regards the erosion of democratic principles vis-à-vis economic freedom as proposed outside Western viewpoints. There is nothing wrong with this but the world as evolving currently requires an understanding of an Eastern perspective, in particular, a Chinese one. This is so because unlike the previous wealthy Chinese empire of the nineteen century, this emerging one would have a great impact (which it previously never had), on how the social-political-economic nature of the world is going to evolve. I mention this because no other than the big Russian nation is now studying seriously whether a Chinese style (which John Naisbitt described as a form of 'vertical democracy') of government is more efficacious than an often disruptive and counter-productive, bicameral, Westminster style one. No one who understands freedom could argue that a Western democracy is not the best form for individual freedom. In recent years, however, the advent of unfettered capitalism has seemingly made very questionable, the benefits of Western style democratic governance. It's as though, the powerfully vested few could high-jack the system for their narrow interests alone, leaving the rest unprotected from wholesale skull-drudgery. The strangest irony is that real democracy and unfettered capitalism (or true laisse faire) are, as Marx would describe, natural opposites. Democracy, in the simplest term is the will of the democratic majority, as expressed in individual ballots. Capitalism, on the other hand, is by nature autocratic, representing the will of a powerful minority. And when democracy becomes a captive of uncontrolled capitalism as in the US recently, democratic considerations takes a back seat, as it were, and the capitalist-autocrats take over and the common man suffers. Albeit, for only awhile (and this is the safeguard of democracy) but eventually, "he who holds the purse, controls the world". This is what the Chinese realised when Deng Xiao Ping, looked around in the eighties. You can have the longest, existing civilisation in the world but without money you are nothing. It did not take long before the pragmatic Chinese saw what needed doing; i.e. create a capitalist-type economy. The question of compatibility was quickly resolved when Deng visited Lee Kuan Yew; he saw how an authoritarian regime sits well with capitalism and thrives. He got the answer of how you can control the population completely, at the same time provides them the means to be wealthy. The rest, as they say is history. Confucianism, which provides the basic framework of Chinese society, and Communism, has fundamentally to do with respect of authority and allowing it to function without question; the provision being that it must do well in furthering the welfare of the people. It is thus clear that capitalism and autocracy are natural partners; nobody elects the leaders; the leaders elect themselves. It is never understood, particularly in the right-wing West, why the Chinese people would not rise against the many human rights violations that the Westerner can see. The answer is that the Chinese view it differently. If your government has lifted '400 million' or more of you out of abject poverty and your life is so much better in the last twenty years and there are opportunities to be fabulously rich, why would you object? The assumption in the West is often that the individual generally knows what he wants and when enough numbers have the same wants they form the majority to elect the government they want. Off course, the rights of the minority, which can be a considerable number is often ignored. This naturally results in a bicameral situation where one side is engaged endlessly in undermining the other, to the detriment of all. This fundamentally is the weakness. And when public opinion is controlled by a few press barons which represents only the interests of the few rich, democracy meaning free speech is often undermined. Free speech becomes only free for opinion makers in the major newspapers. The voice of the ordinary man is often left unheard. Thus the warning of the sub-primed danger, the raising of Madoff's schemes, the plight of the uninsured for health care and such, are like voices crying in the wilderness. The result is that the Chinese system now seems much better. Much of the world is now looking to China to lead it out of their economic crisis. Those of us who treasure freedom have better wake up. Capitalism without social justice cannot endure as Communism with social and economic justice can. The enemies of Obama as reflected by the mean and vehement opposition of insurance companies in the US to the Health reforms, is a stark indication of the malaise of unfettered capitalism; it destroys democracy as we need it!   About the Author: Louis Lim is a highly qualified certified management consultant who promotes entrepreneurship as a set of basic human skills for financial security! With them, anyone can always feel secure of making a living with or without a job. Louis has identified Internet Marketing as the latest opportunity for those seeking financial independence. He has decades of experience consulting for many firms and mentors many business people. He is sharing his skills in business on the internet. Louis Lim is also an Expert Author on Entrepreneurship in the top Ezine Business and Motivation magazines in the internet and Google.  Read More →